Lupicia

Loose
Appearance: large “kernel” oolong, two toned green, deep purpleish pink petals
Aroma when Dry: sticky sweet desert floral, almost gooey
After water is first poured: floral icing
At end of steep: subtle sweet fruity notes, powdery
Tea liquor:
At end of first steep: transparent light green
Staple? No
Time of day preferred: unsure, first tasting
Taste:
At first: jammy, sweet berry, slightly sticky
As it cools? plum syrupy notes start showing
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No.
Lingers? Yes, very sweet, cloying jammyness, violet notes show

Ran around working at a convention all weekend and this stayed in my cup! I ended up drinking it iced because I had a metal thermos and couldn’t warm it, but yum! It tastes soooo good iced, like grape drink mixes but better! I think this is my favorite tea yet!

I first tried this as an iced tea this summer at the Lupicia store. I bought it immediately it was so good! At home, making the iced tea, I add lemon and some sweetener (either a bit of sugar or splenda). I’m a newbie to tea but really enjoy this one!

Way too rich of a dinner party last night!
My husband made an Emeril recipe that involved duck rolled with bacon, avocado and pistachios. Then a Julia Child french onion soup and my custard caramel pudding. Spent the evening all dragging around from overly rich food.

Woke up and having another “not awake” morning and went for the good bagged tea. No idea how long I left the bag in for – tastes okay though. I’ve discovered if I put a tea on a very visible spot on my shelf, i’ll drink more of it! This one is there, next to a few others I’m trying to work through.

I had a late night where I couldn’t sleep – so I stayed up watching Coffee Prince. Yeah, don’t watch a funny show when everyone else is asleep, I had to hold back laughing.

Woke up and I felt just run over and too lazy to make decent tea. Yay tea bags! I just tossed this in some 200f water and slouched over my art desk to stare try and stay awake. I had Mr. Owly to keep my company. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=529215080442135&set=a.517063994990577.124981.516160198414290&type=1&theater
I’ve been too lazy to change his kimono, but I think I will when spring officially arrives.

Good Morning! I received this tea in my Lupicia happy bag. Uggg I’m in pain all over, holiday break from jiu jitsu and returning after the break = painful. I hurt all over and feel tired. Feels great to be back, though annoyed I couldn’t finish a choke on a guy as he got saved by the bell!

STEEPED: classic dark amber brown black tea look.

TASTE: English breakfasty tasting, though I find this one (compared to other bags of English breakfast I’ve had) very clean tasting. No bitterness or dryness.

Admittedly, I don’t drink this kind of tea very much and it’s something I don’t buy for myself, so other than it tasting pretty clean and not bitter, not sure how this stacks up against others. Though I think this tea not bad.

Going back to ice packs and heating pads.

FINALLY! Me and Lupicia Sweet Potato Pie get to meet! I am sooooo happy to finally have this in my stash! I will covet it! I wish I could get more I absolutely love this. I was not very pleased with the aroma of the dry leaf but am relieved to find a DELICIOUS cup of Sweet Potato Pie!
Full Review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 5th!

ICED LATTE!

I had the craving for earl grey after insanely chewy, filling and cheesy mochi pizza (that turned out really messy to make). Decided to give this tea a shot from my Lupicia Happy bag!

Double strength, poured over ice and soymilk with a little agave. Wish I had honey but I’m out. Overall, pretty good. The earl grey flavor is both citrusy and bergamont. The rooibos as a latte is not strong – good for me who isn’t into red rooibos taste. I probably should do a tasting not as a latte, but this is pretty solid and would do it again! Wish this was a little more bergamont in flavor.

This is one of the samples I got got indigobloom. I had it the other night, so this is a bit of a backlog. I used the whole sample, but perhaps maybe I shouldn’t have. It was a strong genmai cha roasty toasty flavour, which isn’t a bad thing…I love genmai cha specifically for those flavours. I could detect a little of the soybean. I had a slightly bitter brew, but it might be due to using all the tea, or not being diligent enough to watch the water temp or time too closely.

This was still a nice tea. It is a nice one to try, and I appreciate the thought to blend this all together.

I’ve been eating such insanely rich foods lately that when I think of tea, all I want is something fruity and green. I could really go for a bowl of fresh melon, but this melon oolong will have to do! The dry leaf smells incredibly juicy & sweet. I can almost taste the ripe melon!

Sipping… this tea’s flavor is much lighter than the scent would suggest. As I sip, I’m thinking, “where is all of the melon?” Just as I’m about to give up, I taste it. There it is: creamy melon juice & flowers from the oolong. To me, it’s unquestionably honeydew. It’s sweet and juicy and SO delicious. The oolong is hand in hand with the melon and contributes that green, leafy bit to round out the cup. The two together combine into that juicy melon closest to the rind — you know, the almost bitter, almost flavorless part. I love how this tea is a perfect balance of sweet honeydew melon and floral oolong.

A part of me wishes that the flavor were a bit stronger. I would love that overwhelming melon sweetness in a cup of tea, but I’m enjoying this cup so much despite the rather mild flavor. Thank you, ToiToi for letting me try this tea!

I got this as the sample with the October 2012 mailer. Because I also ordered a package that month, I got a second newsletter/sample. My boyfriend and I drank them tonight.
Before brewing it smells really rummy, and brewed it smells/tastes overwhelmingly rummy. I think. I don’t drink alcohol, so I guess I don’t really know what rum tastes like, I’m just going off of my imagination… and my boyfriend says that no, it doesn’t taste like rum.
The rooibos flavor is hidden beneath the other flavors.
It does really taste like a butterscotch candy. I really don’t like butterscotch, so I didn’t care for this tea. My boyfriend loved it though, and he’s not particularly into tea, so that is bumping up the rating for me.

Snagged this tea in my Lupicia Happy bag, Fukubukuro, along with 8 other teas. I’m making mochi tonight – pizza mochi in fact http://youtu.be/e59erF1YiFA but that’ll be later in the night, too late for me to have matchy tea, so I can’t pair the pizza with my tea, boo!

STEEPED: Pale spring green. Obviously matcha in this, but the colour is a good green, like I busted out some of my good matcha and not the lower quality browny matcha.

TASTE: Rice toastyness, light green tea flavor, bit of sweetness. Very fresh tasting at first sip, little bitterness at the end. I did a 45 second steep, might try 30 seconds next time.

COMMENTS: Pretty good genmaicha. I like the pairing of the matcha in this tea. I’m not a genmaicha expert, I’ve had two similar teas, one bagged and another I got from the LA farmers market. This one is much better, less bitter and actually sweet! Right now, I actually don’t have any matcha genmaicha and have been adding my own matcha to some regular genmaicha – this one does better than my tea experiments.

I received this as a free sample with the September 2012 mailer.

It’s confusing because the description says it’s a white tea, but the website says green, and it has the word “vert” in the title, so… who knows.

What I do know is that the “ume” in the title is the ume from “umeboshi.” Ume isn’t your typical Western purple plum, but this tart, green apricot/plum sort of thing that is often dried/pickled as red umeboshi. It’s supposed to be very good for recovery after sports. I like it with rice, but sometimes it’s made with a very bitter spice, and that’s what I was picking up on with this tea. I finished my cup, but I wouldn’t be too excited if I had ordered a whole container. There are too many other great teas from Lupicia!

If you love umeboshi though, you will love this tea!

I’ve been drinking this tea more often lately.. it just seems to fit fall evenings. This tea is incredibly roasty, but sweet. While this tea isn’t that pretty (lots of twigs and stems), its flavor evokes images of burning fires, dry leaves and oozing caramel. As it cools, it becomes more smooth which makes it even better!

This tea smells creamy, buttery, green, toasty and earthy all at once. I’m really looking forward to sipping!

The scent smells so rich that it has me expecting a really thick or full mouthfeel. This tea is surprisingly light and clean. There isn’t as much caramel as I would have liked, but it is still rather toasty and sweet.

It is smooth and actually becomes a little bit more creamy as the cup cools. Very tasty & satisfying! Thank you, ToiToi for a sample of this tea!

This was a morning staple for me for a while when I was still living at home. It doesn’t smell or taste like the usual artificial peach variant, but has a deeper, more genuinely fruity flavor. I was really pleasantly surprised because this is a black tea that still manages to retain the taste of black tea while at the same time tasting like peaches. It’s hard to explain. The flavor doesn’t overpower me, though it’s definitely not a weak tea.

It smells like heaven as it brews.

I haven’t tried it iced, but I’m sure it’ll taste great. Next on my list of things to do at home once I fetch the tin from my tea drawer at work.

Had this this morning with some soy creamer and just a hint of sugar. It really does smell like a cookie. Probably the best tea for dessert that I own. Great with milk, but the flavor is mild enough that it tastes great plain, too!

First sips: Lightly peach. Refreshing. Slightly sweet—in a “clear” crystalline way. Like a peach sorbet.

I’ve kept this steeped forever and used boiling water but it hasn’t gotten bitter or astringent at all. So upon cooldown, the flavor just seems to get more syrupy and more candied—like Peach Jolly Ranchers.

I like it! :)

Tastes surprisingly milky! Smells deliciously like caramel and yams. I’m kind of surprised overall by this—I thought it would have been too “cloying” and artifical but it’s not at all. It’s a wonderful sweet potato flavor and very enjoyable. I love the milkiness!

This tea is very sweet and fragrant—something I really like about teas in general. It really does smell like grape juice, and tastes very fruity and refreshing. I made a big potful, as the plan was to save it for iced tea. It was good hot, but a little strong; I like my hot teas to be more subtle. Diluted with ice it’s just right.

Doesn’t really need to be sweetened—I think sugar would make this TOO sweet.